To Him Be the Glory

I am the LORD, that is My name; and my glory I will not give to another
--Isaiah 42:8

Recently our pastor used this verse in a sermon. I love the passages in I Samuel where God defends his glory. The Israelites thought the Ark of the Covenant would save them in battle, but to their horror they were defeated and the Ark stolen. The Philistines, thinking their god, Dagon, had triumphed, put the Ark next to Dagon. The next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face to the earth before the Ark of the Lord. They set Dagon back up, but the next morning he was broken in pieces before the Ark. Then God struck the Philistines with plagues. In the end they willingly gave back the Ark knowing that God had brought these troubles to their land. God didn't need an army. God didn't need the Israelites. God can defend Himself. He is the Lord. No one could say that they had saved the Ark from the Philistines -- God brought it back.
So to not take any of God's glory, let me say -- He has somehow sustained us for about half a year. Of course God has sustained us our whole lives! How can I just talk about the last 6 months? God brought us through the winter -- a time when the work is slim. God provided for us for years when we owned the tree service. God provided for my college tuition. God kept me fed and clothed as I grew up in a family without my father. God gives me my very breath; in Him I live and move and have my being. But let me highlight the last six months.
First, as I mentioned earlier, I am not buying any new clothes. But because of God moving through the generosity of friends, I feel like I have nicer clothes now than I did six months ago. We have been given food. My sister shared from the bountiful supply of canned goods her mother-in-law gave to them. Friends stopped by after a trip to Walmart. We were able to pick corn for free at my brother-in-law's friend's field, and glean blueberries from the fields of a friend from church. My mom has shared countless leftovers from Sunday dinner.
The Bible says having food and clothing we can be content. My mom says that in Michigan, shelter is a necessity too. I think I would agree. Every month God has paid our mortgage, even when we were making less than our monthly expenses. When my husband lost his job, in some ways it was a relief, because he didn't like it at all. Now he is self-employed. We keep trying different ways to bring in money. Still we do not consistently have our monthly expenses covered, but somehow we pay all the bills. We do not use credit cards. I don't want to be robbed of a miracle. (Come to think of it, I don't want to be robbed of my money in interest either.)
We are not sure where all the money comes from! I know a distant friend sent a large sum of money because God told him in a dream to send it. Then God provided quite a bit of work for my husband in web design. We had also been talking about contacting one of my uncles, who earlier had mentioned wanting some long-distance accounting work done. A few weeks ago I found a voicemail message on my phone. It was my uncle and he wanted us to call about some work. I hadn't talked to him in months. We haven't gotten the job yet, but I shouldn't worry, if this is how God wants to provide for us -- He will make it happen. I wondered if my mom had mentioned anything to my uncle about us still being interested in the work, but she hadn't. I guess it was my Father, not my mother, that prompted him to call.
A couple weeks ago my husband picked up a new leather couch from the side of the road. This to me is embarrassing. I suppose that's just my pride. It had a big "FREE" sign next to it. It came apart in sections, so he loaded it into the back of our small pickup and off we drove. My son wanted to honk as we drove past our church, I would rather hide. Why? I don't want to admit that I am poor? I should be waving and pointing -- "Look, look, at this couch God gave us." Trust me, it is much better than the old couch. So, now we have a nice new leather couch.
Not too long ago my husband was complaining how everything was junk. Everything kept breaking -- our van, our truck, our camera, our windows, our roof. Finally he came to the point of contentment, and said, "God this is Your junk. If you don't like it, You'll have to provide the money to fix it, or provide something else, because I can't do anything." To our astonishment, money started pouring in! I can hardly believe it. We got a thousand dollar refund from our escrow account. A few days later I checked the mail again and there was a thousand dollars in refund checks again. (Part from our gas company, part from our school taxes) It was so fun to tell Eric that we just got $1000 dollars in the mail. He didn't believe me. Then my uncle had a small tree job that he didn't want to be bothered with, Eric did it for him. We received a check for $150. My mom gave us some money. Eric received a good sized check from his web designing, and a couple other small sums. We decided to make a list of things that we should fix. I haven't balanced the bank account for September yet; but if my calculations are correct we should be able to put aside savings for months when we have no income, fix some things around the home, and pay our bills.
Oh, we've also been able to take a few trips this year. Utah, of course, then this month we are going to Pennsylvania to visit family, then possibly Oregon for some work.
God is amazing. There is none besides Him; His glory I will not give to another.